Chapter Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Nine
Freddie runs both hands down my spine, and over my butt, encouraging me further. I grip onto him, feeling the way his shoulder muscles tense as he picks me up, my legs wrapping around his waist.
Finally.
I’ve wanted this for so long. I’ve got pulses beating where I didn’t even know I could get them. My ankle, my ears, my… Well, you get the picture. I’m aching for his touch, for his undivided attention. I want him everywhere. I want him over, on top, underneath. I don’t even care.
But… Hang on. He places me down on the bed, gently, rolling me back until my head hits the pillow. This is fine. We can work with this, except then he pulls away and brings the duvet over me.
Is he… tucking me in?
I scoff so hard, I almost choke. “Freddie…”
“Shh,” he says, walking round the bed to climb in his side. He pauses first to remove his t-shirt in that sexy way hot boys do it. One hand yanking it over his head. A marvel. “You’ll wake the others.”
“Why… What is happening? Are you rejecting me again?” I whisper-hiss.
There’s a muffled laugh as Freddie rolls onto his front, his face momentarily smothered by his pillow.
He brings one gorgeously toned bare arm over my middle, pressing me into the sheets.
“You fell and hit your head less than eight hours ago. You’ve drunk more than enough not to be making sensible decisions, and I am not going to take advantage of that. ”
I pout into the moonlit darkness, the outline of his face just visible. “But I want you to…”
He smirks. “Goodnight, storm cloud.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whisper.
“Nope. No joking here. You’ll thank me tomorrow.”
“I’d like to thank you now.”
“Hattie…” he warns, his low, quiet voice sending vibrations through me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.
“Freddie!”
He shuffles upwards to get comfier before he uses the arm around me to pull me across the bed, tucking my body into him, his warm breath on my shoulder.
I realise I’m enjoying the scent of him.
That heady mix of forest and mint. “I said I want all of you. And I mean it. But it’s important you understand that I’m going to want you more than once. ”
I’m too drunk to register the full meaning of his words.
“You could easily have me twice before the sun comes up.”
Freddie scoffs. “Please.. At least three.”
“Hey. Now that pushes my moral boundaries.”
“You have moral boundaries?”
I stick my tongue out.
“Go to sleep, trouble,” he whispers again, his lips pressing gently into the soft groove between my shoulder and neck.
It feels so good, I roll my head back to allow him more access.
I push against the bed so that my back is fully wedged up against him, shuffling in just the right places to be rewarded with one of his bitten-off groans.
His large, warm hand finds the bare skin at my waist, and he leaves it there, his fingers splaying. “Lower,” I mumble.
I feel his deep laugh against my back. “Behave.”
“Never…” I say, but I find myself drifting, the warmth and comfort from being held by him releasing me from my consciousness.
*
I’m nudged awake too soon. It can barely have been a moment’s sleep. The crook of Freddie’s shoulder is damp, and I quickly realise it’s because I’ve been dribbling.
Hot.
I glance up at his face, squinting against the light from outside. He’s frowning at the window. “What’s up?”
“I think it snowed more.”
“It’s fucking freezing in here.”
“And yet you’re boiling,” he points out. Which yes, I am, because I am pretty much skin to skin with my own personal radiator. I can’t help myself from running my lips over his chest, feeling the brush of hair there.
He sighs contentedly. “You need to stop that because people are going to start waking up and I don’t know what you want to do. But if you tease me, I will tease you back.”
I groan. That’s an absolutely terrible threat. It hasn’t made me want to move at all. In fact, I might just stay forever.
But… “You’re right. I’ll talk to Sam.”
I shuffle some more and feel the press of him against my waist. If I didn’t have a heavy head, I would tease him even more but, alas, I am hideously hungover as he predicted.
Freddie breathes deeply, pressing me closer. “Please don’t mention my brother right now. But no. I think it’s better coming from me. He needs to know I’m not playing with you.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“I don’t know if this is the right place.”
I nod. “Agreed. So, we keep this lowkey until…” I pause, not wanting to be the one to assume anything about the plans for us.
“Until you let me take you on a proper date.”
“Mmm. And that will be?”
“As soon as we get home.”
“Literally?”
“If I get my way.”
Then he uses his finger to run along my waistline, leaning in to kiss my throat. “You should go…” he mumbles, his lips roaming lower. Morning Freddie is my new favourite Freddie.
“Oh no,” I mock whisper. “Save me.”
“I’m serious.”
I can’t help laughing. “So am I.”
“They’ll find out,” he mutters as he runs his tongue along my neck and nips my chin. “And I don’t think you’re ready for that.”
“Ugh,” I sigh. “Fine.” I roll from under the covers. I still have my pyjamas on but it’s so cold, I search the floor for more layers. A stray hoodie of Freddie’s has been left on the floor. It’s big on him, so would swamp me. If it wouldn’t be horribly noticeable, I could live in that for weeks.
He sees me eyeing it. “Put it in your bag. It’s yours.”
“Oh, well now this is boring. I was going to steal it.”
“Fine. You can’t have it,” he says, leaning half out the bed to grab it before I can, but I swoop over, snatching it from the floor and smushing it against my face, breathing him in. Fuck, why does it smell so good?
“Happy, thief?” he murmurs, lying back again.
“I can’t take it now, though. You’ll have to care for my stolen goods until I’m home.”
He just smirks at me, taking it from me but pulling me down towards him in the process. I melt into him. “Hattie… I hate to kick you out but…”
“Right. Yes. Must leave. Or get caught.” I get up from the bed, the chill of his room firing up goosebumps all over my arms. I give him one last glance before I go. My heart swells at the sight of him lying back on his bed, hand behind his head like a fucking underwear model.
He winks, which is diabolical, and then I pop my head out of the door, surveying the area. I swear Dylan stirs but other than that, the living space is abandoned as I creep through on my tiptoes and up the stairs.
When I sneak into mine and Priya’s room, I find her lying with her back to the door so hopefully she’s none the wiser. I climb under the covers and pretend to sleep, smiling to myself at the outrageously good night’s sleep I just had.
Happy birthday to me.
But I must actually fall back to sleep because the next thing I know, I’m being woken by a booming voice downstairs. I half-panic, wondering if Sam and Freddie are fighting again. I roll out of bed, pulling on a sweatshirt, and jump down the stairs.
“What’s going on?” I ask, finding Sam and Dylan pulling their coats and boots on.
“We’re taking this bad boy out in the snow,” Sam says, holding up the sleigh from downstairs.
I cringe. “Is it safe?”
“Of course it isn’t. You coming?”
I laugh. “Let me get some caffeine down me first.”
Freddie takes this moment to walk out of his room, his gaze swiping over my body without an ounce of shame. “Morning,” he says. “You joining us?”
“You’re going too?”
“Someone needs to supervise,” he points out, which, fair. He’s probably the most sensible of the three of them when it comes to the snow.
“Are we leaving today?” Priya asks, stepping into the room. “It’s just Izzy is back to work tomorrow, and I need to have Ollie… and if I don’t hold my baby today, I’m probably going to spontaneously combust.”
She’s talking to me, but I’ve not had my cup of tea yet so I’m still half-insensible. I put the kettle on and turn to Freddie with a questioning stare. This feels like his responsibility.
Why’s that? I’m unsure.
Maybe because it’s his car we’re travelling in?
“We’ll go scout the drive down to the main road and see how passable it is,” he tells Priya. “I need to get back too, so I’ll do my best.”
He glances at me again on the way to the door and I just know my face is betraying me, so I distract myself by adding bread to the toaster. Priya and Sara decide to make use of the hot tub one last time, while I head to the front porch to watch out for the boys, in case they get injured.
After about an hour, I hear their voices, laughing and joking as they tow the sleigh back towards the house. I seize this opportunity to throw my coat and boots on and sneak to the side of the lodge, careful not to slip again.
I ball up a pile of snow, wincing at the ice burn. I always forget how bloody cold it is. My woolly gloves are already damp through.
Then I wait, poised like the yeti monster, ready to attack.
When their voices are near enough, I don’t think, I just pummel them with snowballs. One after the other. I miss a few, granted. I’m the running-in-straight-lines sporty type – I’m not much for aiming.
“What the…” I hear Sam exclaim as one smacks him right in the cheek.
I snigger as the next one gets Freddie on the forehead, just as he looks me in the eye. He pauses for a dangerous second, calculating. Sam bends down to ball some snow but misses as I duck behind the lodge. It thwacks off the wood.
I throw another one at Freddie, because he’s closest to me now, having stepped in my direction. It slams into the groove above his neck, and I swear he sucks in a breath. A lovely bit of icy snow trickling down his t-shirt.
“Oh, you’re dead,” he fires back. I scream, flying round the back of the lodge below the balcony where Sara and Priya are spectating from the hot tub.
I’m quick. I can totally escape him, except the fucking snow round the back is like two foot thick and partly frozen over uneven, untrodden ground. It’s honestly lethal.
I try to use big steps to escape, but at some point, I stumble and slide down a slope. Luckily, I stay upright, shooting further into the snowy forest. I spook a creature – a squirrel, maybe – which goes sprinting up into the trees.
All the time, I can hear the crunch of his massive boots in the snow behind me, his hastened breathing, half-panting, half-laughing as he stumbles along in pursuit. My heart is firing like my life depends on it, which is insane, especially since I absolutely want to get caught.
I know he’s getting closer, so I use a tree as barrier.
I grip hold of it, peeking around at Freddie, who’s charging at me, his face lit up with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on him.
Everything in my body softens, the adrenaline washing out through my fingers as he throws an arm around my waist and tackles me to the floor.
“Oh, my fucking God! It’s so cold,” I screech as the snow infiltrates the top of my coat and around my hips where it’s ridden up.
Freddie’s laughing, his breathing ragged as he lies on top, his weight pressing down on me, exquisite. He places one frozen hand on my cheek, which has me gasping.
“Argh! You’re so mean.”
“Says the girl who just pummelled me with snowballs.”
I grin, teasing. “What you going to do about it?”
He can’t seem to knock the smile off his face. “I’ll think of something appropriately evil,” he says, before pressing his lips to mine. I greet him easily, enjoying the taste of him.
He has one leg between mine and I can’t help fidgeting against it, hoping to rile him up even more.
“Brat,” he mutters, pressing into me further. I snicker against his lips.
But our fun is short-lived when Sam shouts, “Where the fuck did you go?”
We’re buried in the snow, thanks to the weight of Freddie as he took me down. He climbs off me, getting to his feet and helping me to mine. With his spare hand, he runs his thumb over my bottom lip, his palm squeezing my chin before retreating.
Not yet. He hasn’t spoken to Sam yet.
And that’s ok. This isn’t the right time or place.
I head back towards the lodge too, noticing that Freddie is checking behind him to make sure I’m at least following. That is until I spot another figure a few metres to my right.
I slap a hand to my chest. Dylan blinks at me, his lips twisted into an impressed smirk. He gives me two thumbs up. Which… gross. No!
My eyes go wide, and I shake my head at him.
“Nice work,” he says, nodding as I stride towards him.
“Shh. No, no, no.”
But he’s turning and heading towards the lodge too. I bolt after him instead, grabbing his arm.
“Sam doesn’t know. Don’t…”
“Hey, I won’t reveal your dirty secrets.”
I sigh. “It’s not dirty.”
“How disappointing.”
“Dyl…”
“I’m only messing with you. And hey, you took my advice.”
I shake my head. “What?”
“I said something super wise about doing something, or someone. And I mean, fair play, fucking bullseye. I knew you were cooler than you let on.”
“Ok, but I think it’s more than just…”
“Oh no,” he says stopping beside me. “How long has it been going on?”
“Like two days.”
“And you think it’s more than what? Just a shag?”
“Well, yeah.” I cringe. “And we haven’t… I hate that word.”
He gasps. “Why didn’t you shag him?”
“I’m not discussing this with you.”
“Fair. But it’s probably not more. You need to chill out. Want me to push you back into the snow? Your aura is horny.”
I scoff. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Trust me, it is.”
“Whatever, Dyl. Just promise to keep your mouth shut.”
He nods, serious. “Oh yeah. This would blow up between those two. Christ. You’re actually quite messy. I’m sort of impressed. It must run in the family.”
“It won’t blow up,” I argue.
Dylan leans back to give me a telling look. “Hattie… I’m going to need you to be serious for a minute. You understand what you’re doing, right? You and Sam’s hot brother just…” He pauses as he catches my expression.
I’m not even sure what my face is doing. But it probably knows more than me because my body feels deflated, my heart beating a little too hard.
He’s right, isn’t he? I said I wouldn’t do this. I said I wouldn’t dive head first into something new and it’s like I can’t even help myself.
I gasp. “Oh no.”
“Oh, babe,” he says. “You know casual is casual. And you’re very not casual.”
“Yes. I do know that.”
“Ok. Ok, don’t panic. I’ve done this loads of times. You just need to prepare for impact.”
“How do I do that?”
“Well, I just stock up on Ben and Jerry’s, to be honest.”
I laugh, exasperated. This isn’t going to end well. I stride away from Dylan, who walks behind me, cooing about how it’ll be fine and… “Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
“They’re already in a twist. I let him twist them.”
And I take a deep breath before walking back into the lodge.